What To Do With A Bumper Crop Of Tomatoes!

Hello friends, fellow campers, and food lovers!

It has been a while since our last blog as Gourmet Gal Gail is on the road with her beloved Abagail and I have had a house guest here at Le Petit Saint Barnabé for the past three weeks. Needless to say, there was a lot of cooking going on here over the past month as I have had a bumper crop of heirloom tomatoes and yellow zucchini from my small potager just outside my kitchen door. My tomatoes are so very pretty!

This year I grew Black Crimea, Yellow Boy, Marmande, and Green Zebra. I have already canned eight jars of them for use this winter and still have a lot of tomatoes on the vine. Many cherry tomato plants also popped up all on their own from last years crop. I will be making Spicy Tomato Jam with those very soon.

I made this wonderful sauce for immediate use with tomatoes that were cracked or had been pecked at by my chickens. (They ate all of my lettuces too! Naughty girls!)

I added olives, shitake mushrooms, one hot chili, and onion to the sauce. It is never the same recipe twice. You can also use leftover veggies and puree them with the tomatoes for a smooth and velvety sauce. I will be making a sauce like that at the end of the season.

I have been experimenting with various recipes with the intention of using every tomato in the garden. Here are some of the dishes I have made:

This is a tomato galette. I used pre-made pastry so it was quick and easy to make. There is grated Gruyere cheese under those luscious tomatoes and slivered garlic. I topped it off with fresh thyme and snipped chives.

Here is the Breakfast of Champions! That’s hummus with marinated feta in the middle.

My usual go-to for fresh tomatoes is a Caprese salad with balsamic glaze like this one:

But for one lunch last week I decided to get creative with it and here is the result:

It tasted as good as it looked! That is Buffalo mozzarella in between the slices of different colored tomatoes. The basil and chives are from my garden too!

Tomorrow I will continue to can the rest of my tomatoes. What are you making with your harvest? Let us know here.

Until next time, keep on cooking and adding your special flare to the recipes you try out.